Biden to honor Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson with civilian medal
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President to award medal to congressman and ex-congresswoman who led January 6 investigation. Joe Biden is bestowing the second highest civilian medal on the Democratic congressman, Bennie Thompson, and Republican former congresswoman Liz Cheney who led the bipartisan congressional investigation into the deadly 6 January 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol riot by Donald Trump’s supporters intent on overturning his election defeat by Biden.
Trump, who takes office again on 20 January after winning last November’s election, has said the leaders of that committee, which published its conclusions in December 2022 after a series of high-profile public hearings, should be jailed, not rewarded.
Biden, the outgoing US president, will award the Presidential Citizens Medal to 20 people in a ceremony late on Thursday afternoon at the White House. As well as the prominent co-chairs of that committee, other recipients include Americans who successfully fought for marriage equality for same-sex couples to become legal.
There will also be a medal for a pioneer in treating wounded soldiers, and two of the Democratic president’s longtime political allies, the Democratic former US Senators Ted Kaufman of Delaware, the state that Biden represented in the senate, and Chris Dodd of Connecticut.
